Greetings all.

Six months ago one of my best friends, Jen (Rodwell, Rodders, the Rod) was diagnosed with a very rare and aggressive form of ovarian cancer. She had no symptons and was perfectly healthy beforehand.  Since then she has had major surgery to remove the tumour, and is now part way through 6 cycles of chemo. At first there really were no assurances that she was going to get better - infact they said if the surgery had been a couple of weeks later, they wouldn't have been able to get it out at all.

It has been a really difficult time - a big operation, countless side effects from the chemo (including the weird and the v.unwonderful), on-going tests, blood transfusions and long stints in hospital (including Christmas Day), and although Rodwell isn't quite out of the woods yet the future is definitely looking a lot brighter!

She has done an absolutely amazing job of being poked, proded, injected, plugged in and generally messed about pretty much every day since she found out she was poorly. She even manages to see the funny side!! Of course there have also been really difficult periods and horrible side effects and during these times Ovacome, the charity for Ovarian cancer have been really good at providing information, support and advice.

I have known Rod since we were 4years old and we have been through all sorts of teenage scrapes and adventures together - she is one of the loveliest people you could meet, with the driest sense of humour.  It is really hard to know what you can 'do' when one of the people you love most in the world goes through something like this - you can't make them better or stop the horrible side effects which just don't go away. We visit as much as we can but it just doesn't seem enough, so one thing I thought I could do is raise some money for Ovacome, hence why I am running the London Marathon!

As most of you know I am not naturally a 'runner' - my favourite sport is horseriding, not least because you get to sit down and let something else do most of the hard work! Plus, I chose to make my career in the world of trucking - an industry famed for bellies and bacon butties. And my boobs hurt when I run!!!!! But needs must, and at least it meant that my family didn't have to think too hard about what to get me for Christmas this year (all the gear but no idea....)

So, here's where you come in. I know lots of these sponsorship things come round but it is for a really good - and personal - cause so please, please sponsor me if you can. No donation too big or too small! Any support you can give will really help me get through the 26.2 miles of pain that I'm sure lies ahead (and the training. In the dark. And the wet. And maybe even the snow!!) and it will really help make a difference to those suffering from the horrible disease.

Any donations you can give are greatly appreciated by both myself and Jen. Please also feel free to spread the word!

Thanks a lot

Sarah / Rog xx